Patents - A Great Source of Information

A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to its inventor, and in the United States is issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The term of a new patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States.  U.S. patent grants are effective only within the U.S., U.S. territories, and U.S. possessions.

Patents can provide detailed information about an invention's materials and processes and patents cover a wide range of topics.  A patent describes an invention and how it works, provides drawings, includes inventor and  assignee information (the assignee is the person(s) or corporate or government body to whom all or limited rights under a patent are legally transferred). 

The Engineering Library is a Patent and Trademark Depository Library and provides access to tools for searching patents and has partial or full-text copies of all U.S. patents issued.  The U.S. Patent Office distributes full-text images of new and historic patents to U.S. Patent and Trademark Depository libraries. We should soon have full-text images of all U.S. patents issued available for viewing and printing here at the Engineering Library.  Please note that the full-text images of new and historic patents are also available online.  See the Patent Resources Available Online section below for more information.

The librarians at the Engineering Library can help you get started with a patent search and give you pointers on using tools such as the Manual of Classification.  

Patent Resources Available Online

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office  is an excellent source of patent information on the Internet. The Patent Full-Text Database With Full-Page Images  now offers the full text of all US patents issued since January 1, 1976 and full-page images of  US patents issued since 1790 through the most recent weekly issue date (usually each Tuesday).   Links for Frequently Asked Questions about patents, information on obtaining copies of patents, information about filing for patents and fees are also available on this Web site.  If you are going to conduct a patent search using online patent resources, we highly recommend viewing our Patent Searching Tutorial .

If you are looking for international patent information, the esp@cenet Website offers access to recent European, Japanese, and WIPO patent information.

If at any time you have any questions, please feel free to stop by the Engineering Library and talk to a reference librarian. You can also reach us by telephone; the number for our reference line is 495-4511.You can also send your questions by electronically through our online form.